Warriors vs. Lakers NBA Opening Night Odds, Preview and Prediction (Archive)
The L.A. Lakers aren’t always a good NBA pick, but they’ll have the edge this Tuesday when they host the Golden State Warriors.
Golden State Warriors vs. Los Angeles Lakers
Tuesday, October 19, 2021 -10:00 PM EDT at Staples Center
Thank goodness basketball is here again. I’ve covered a lot of different sports in my time, but there’s something special about betting on hoops, especially when you’re making NBA picks. Of all the four major team sports in North America, this is the one where individual players can have the most impact regardless of position – which makes sense, given that you only have five on the floor and another 10 on the bench, including scrubs that don’t see many minutes at all.
It’s often the missing players that make the NBA odds as soft as they are, at least at the beginning of a new season. Consider the Golden State Warriors; at +1000, they’re No. 4 favorites at Bovada (visit our Bovada Review) to win the title this year, but they won’t have Klay Thompson when they visit the Los Angeles Lakers this Tuesday in the second game of the TNT Opening Night doubleheader.
That’s not the only reason we’re taking L.A. as 3.5-point home faves on the NBA lines at Intertops (visit our Intertops Review), but it’s the most important one.
Old Glory
The Warriors still have a lot of fan support after winning four titles in five years, but let’s face it, this isn’t the same team anymore – and not just because Kevin Durant took his talents to Brooklyn. Thompson (Achilles) probably won’t be back until Christmas Day, Draymond Green (plus-1.5 BPM in 2020-21, as per Basketball Reference) hasn’t made the All-Star team since 2018, and the returning Andre Iguodala (minus-0.7 BPM with Miami) might be cooked as he nears 38 years of age.
They still have Stephen Curry (plus-8.1 BPM), mind you. The former two-time MVP played close to that level again in 2020-21 at age 32, carrying the load while Thompson was sidelined, and he doesn’t appear to be heading for a cliff just yet. But where’s the support? Promising first-round pick Jonathan Kuminga is out with a strained right patella, and as poorly as the 2020 No. 2 overall selection James Wiseman (minus-5.4 BPM) played last year, the Dubs won’t be able to realize his potential while he recovers from the knee surgery he had in April.
Thirtysomething
Naturally, the Lakers have their fans as well, and expectations are still high as the +375 second-favorites at Bovada (visit our Bovada Review). This is an aging team that might not make it across the finish line; they had to beat Golden State in last year’s Western Conference play-in game just to qualify for the first round, where they got bounced by the much younger and healthier Phoenix Suns.
This is a new campaign, though, and for now, the Lakers have both LeBron James (plus-7.5 BPM) and Anthony Davis (plus-4.5 BPM) available at the same time. They also have Russell Westbrook (plus-3.4 BPM with Washington) as a significant upgrade at point guard over Dennis Schroeder (minus-1.1 BPM).
They’ve got some injuries of their own to deal with, but for Opening Night, the Lakers have what they need to go in our basketball picks – and the projections agree, with FiveThirtyEight projecting L.A. to win by four points, and Jeff Sagarin at The USA Today going Lakers –4.44. Make it a suitably small bet to reflect that small edge, and may the sphere be with you all season long.
NBA Pick: Lakers –3.5 (–105) with Intertops (visit our Intertops Review)
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.